Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman said yesterday that he is endorsing Democrat Ed FitzGerald for
governor against Gov. John Kasich, a Republican whom Coleman has publicly complimented.

Coleman called FitzGerald, the Cuyahoga County executive, “Kennedyesque.”

“He sort of reminds me of a young Bobby Kennedy,” Coleman said in a phone interview. “Scrappy,
idealistic, well-meaning.”

Coleman said his views on such campaign issues as access to voting, women’s rights,
local-government funds and gun control align with those of FitzGerald, not Kasich.

Coleman and FitzGerald have not discussed arranging a public announcement of the endorsement, as
happened when Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson endorsed FitzGerald in mid-January on the steps of
Cleveland City Hall, said Dan Williamson, the mayor’s spokesman.

Coleman also did not commit to raising money or turning out voters for FitzGerald’s campaign,
opting to “decide that as (the campaign) goes, like I do with everything,” he said. “My No. 1
priority is running the city of Columbus.”

FitzGerald asked for the endorsement when the two met last year, Coleman said.

Coleman’s endorsement comes after he publicly complimented Kasich — and was praised by Kasich in
turn — for his help on a bill Coleman sought to improve Columbus’ public schools, sending money to
the city through the state capital bill and other initiatives.

“He’s a formidable candidate for governor, and he’s viewed by both Republicans and Democrats as
a very strong opponent,” Coleman said of Kasich. “He’s going to be hard to beat.”

Asked if the endorsement will affect his relationship with Kasich, Coleman said: “It shouldn’t.
... It would be inappropriate for him and inappropriate for me to be partisan in the governing of
our state or our city.”

Coleman also said his endorsement for FitzGerald comes earlier than usual for him; he didn’t
endorse former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland during the 2006 campaign until that summer.

The 14-year Columbus mayor is one of the last high-profile Democrats in the state to endorse
FitzGerald, coming after U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown; Strickland; and Jackson, who also has developed a
public rapport with Kasich.

“What is news is that people actually thought that FitzGerald wouldn’t get this endorsement and
that it took so long,” Chris Schrimpf, spokesman for the Ohio Republican Party, said in an
email.

Will Drabold is a fellow in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Statehouse News Bureau.